Romanian Print Press Market,

by Roxana Irimia

In the last five years, the market share of sale of quality newspapers has declined
dramatically.
At first glance, the Romanian print media market looks diversified and rich, if
judged by the number of titles on the market. According to Naional Institute of Statistics
(NIS), in 2007 there were 159 daily newspapers, almost 300 publishers for newspapers
and over 350 for magazines. The growing trend continued also in 2008, when
businessmen, politicians and various groups increase their investment in the media,
being an electoral year. Once the economic crisis hit, towards the end of 2008, the
growing process is going down.
In 2014, changes in media environment occured. The market increased slightly due
to the presidential election campaign and owners of big companies were imprisoned( for
tax evasion, money laundering, bribery).
This situation let things pretty confusing and some companies in insolvency proceedings.
In the last five years, the market share of sale of quality newspapers has declined
dramatically. Actually, I would say that the biggest sale decline in the market is
remarkable for quality newspapers and for the print newspaper audiences.

Tabloids continue to be Romania's most read newspapers.

Evenimentul zilei, owned by Ringier ( Switzerland-based group) is one of the most
important daily newspapers from the so-called quality segment, with 35,000 copies a day
(half of what it was three years ago).
The bestselling newspaper at the moment is the tabloid Click (more that 236.000
copies/daily n 2009). When launched, Click was a copy of the then market lider
Libertatea (Ringier). At that moment the team of journalists that started Click were exjournalists from Libertatea. Although their audience is in a decline, tabloids continue to
be Romania's most read newspapers.
With an effervescent activity is also the business daily press. Ziarul Financiar- has a small,
but steady circulation and an elite readership. It's the only newspaper who has at some
moment the paywall sistem, as an experiment.
The future for the Romanian print press market is not so clear and, at from some
perspectives, not so bright. The print media environment is captured by the online
platform, or is moved on Facebook, where the journalist is seen as a content or as a new
status on your wall.

1. De ce i se pare presa att de oribil n Romnia

http://www.vice.com/ro/read/de-ce-i-se-pare-presa-atat-de-oribil-in-romania-695
2. Romania's Struggling Press, By Starck, Kenneth
https://www.questia.com
3. Naional Institute of Statistics
http://www.insse.ro/cms/
4. Media Fact book, 2015
http://www.mediafactbook.ro/preview
5. Media Landscapes, Romania
http://ejc.net/media_landscapes/romania
6. http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/newspaper-circulations-tumble-in-romania